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Ethereum Price Prediction in 2018 [NEW]

2018 has been a bad year for cryptocurrencies, with the bear market in play since the start of the year. Following the meteoric rise of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other leading cryptocurrencies, many had expected their prices to surge even higher this year. However, that hasn’t been the case, with the bear affecting the market over the past eight months.

Reasons for the downtrend in Ether price

Ethereum has been one of the worst performing cryptocurrencies over the past few months. The bear cycle which has affected the general market has also affected the price of Ethereum. However, there are some proponents that contributed to the drop in ETH price.

Bitcoin bull and market expert, Tom Lee stated in a recent interview that Ether’s price has been affected by a major supply being sold from the EOS project which was initially issued on the Ethereum network before it launched its own Blockchain.

He also stated that the project has a questionable roadmap at the moment, which has caused investors to panic about the short-term potentials of the cryptocurrency. In addition to that, Ethereum is now facing tough competition from platforms like EOS, Tron, Cardano, and others who are all looking to become the preferred destination for smart contract and dApp developers.

Lee also pointed out that there is panic selling amongst ICO issuers which has also played a role in bringing ETH prices down. ICO investments were very high at the start of the year but have dropped drastically over the past few months. This has caused ICO issuers to sell their ETH reserve and this has increased the selling pressure on the cryptocurrency.

These problems combined have played major roles in keeping the price of ethereum down. However, investors and analysts are still optimistic that the price of ETH will still embark on a Bull Run before the end of the year.

We will now take a look at the possible price targets that Ethereum could reach before the end of the year.

Ethereum could rise x10 its current price

Ethereum has lost roughly 80 percent of its value since the start of the year. it reached an all-time high around the $1,400 mark earlier this year but just like the other cryptocurrencies, has seen its value drop dramatically.

Market experts and analysts still believe that it could embark on a Bull Run before the end of the year. The co-creator of the network, Steven Nerayoff, is of the view that the market cap of Ether (Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency) could hit $11 billion by the end of the year. If that happens, that would be almost 3 times rise from the current market cap.

According to him, the increasing number of products that are being developed and issued on the Ethereum Blockchain would be the driving force behind the increase in Ether’s value.

Consulting firm deVere Group is of the view that Ethereum could reach $2500 by the end of the year. The optimistic view of this firm extends beyond this year, with a further increase expected in 2019 and 2020. They attributed their prediction to the increasing use of the platform.

The co-founder of Reddit in his prediction stated that Ethereum will embark on a Bull Run this year that would see it reach the $1,500 mark by the end of the year.

The head of research Fundstrat investment firm recently revealed that the price of Ethereum will hit $1,900 by the end of the year. If that happens, then it would surge by 726 percent from its current price of $225.

Lee believes that Ether could stage a massive comeback before the end of the year, with the negative sentiment around the perfect recipe for it to capitulate.

Investing Haven aren't very bullish on the price of this cryptocurrency though they still expect it to reach $1,000 by the end of the year or by 2020 if the bear market continues to affect cryptocurrency price.

Ethereum to overtake Bitcoin in terms of market cap

Even though Bitcoin still remains the leading cryptocurrency, there are some proponents who believe that Ethereum’s function in the cryptocurrency space is bigger than that of Bitcoin. Ethereum is the preferred platform for dApps, and smart contract issuers, while most ICOs are issued on the platform. Most of the cryptocurrencies at the moment are ERC20 tokens, thus they are issued on the Ethereum platform.

This is the reason why some industry experts like Roger Ver believe that Ethereum has the potential to overtake Bitcoin in terms of market capitalization. This means that the price potential for this cryptocurrency is high and it could rally before the end of the year.

Roger Ver isn’t the only popular cryptocurrency enthusiast to make that prediction. The CEO of Polychain Capital, Carlson-Wee also believes that Ethereum will definitely surpass Bitcoin. The feature of Ethereum which allows users to develop apps which weren’t imaginable a few years ago is something that gives it the edge, Carlson-Wee stated. This is why the rise of Ethereum price would be significant before the end of the year. He believes that Ethereum is doing what is necessary to revolutionize the payment industry while also changing the way that people store wealth. All these means that the potential of Ethereum is enormous and it will experience a significant rise in value.

Andrew Keys, Co-founder, ConsenSys Capital in a statement mentioned that Ether will surpass the $2,000 markthis year. He is confident that Ether will outperform Bitcoin this year, with its total market cap also to exceed that of Bitcoin by the end of the year.

Weiss Ratings in a recent research note stated that Bitcoin will lose 50% of its market share to Ethereum over the next few years.

All these statements point to the fact that investors and market experts believe in the huge potential of Ethereum, even above that of Bitcoin.

Average prediction of Ethereum price

Most of the experts and market analysts believe that ETH price will surge this year. Averagely, the price of Ethereum is expected to reach the $1,500 by the end of the year. Historically, Ethereum has dropped massively before embarking on a Bull Run.

Just last year, Ethereum lost more than 50% of its value, dropping from $400 in May to trade around $200 in July. It turned things around and embarked on a Bull Run that saw it surge to the $1,400 region.

Adoption is one factor that could lead to the massive growth of the cryptocurrency this year. Ethereum has experienced a tremendous amount of growth across a wide variety of industries. It started off with the Fintech industry but the use of Blockchain technology has now spread across several industries.

Companies and governments are making use of the Ethereum Blockchain to solve various problems in their systems. Some companies are now adopting decentralized cloud-based applications, with Ethereum providing that service. The increase in smart contract usage is another angle that increases the adoption of Ethereum.

Scalability remains the biggest problem affecting the Ethereum network. Slow transaction speed has affected the network, making people doubt whether cryptocurrencies can actually compete with or replace fiat currencies.

However, the developers of the cryptocurrencies have been working on Sharding and Casper upgrades that would make processing faster by splitting a state into different shards. Once Ethereum developers have solved the issue of its scalability, then the network would be able to handle hundreds of thousands or millions of transactions per second.

The increase in speed will see platforms like CryptoKitties be able to handle more transactions on the platform and this will go a long way in ensuring that Ether is used more often by gamers and other users of apps on the platform.

Most of the experts and analysts believe that Ethereum is set for a Bull Run this year, and its average price target before the end of the year stands at above the $1,000 mark. Whatever happens from now till the end of the year, the growth of Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies is something that would definitely be interesting..

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About the Author

Hassan is a cryptocurrency and stock market enthusiast and writer. The financial world has become his primary interest, with movies and books being some of his favorite pastime activities. He is an investor in some blockchain projects including VeChain, Stellar Lumens, Gifto, Cardano, Bitcoin, and Cindicator.